The theatre ensemble of current and former
students gathered to present one of Shakespeare´s dramas, The Tempest.
Charles University Workshop Production led by John Martlew managed to rehearse
the play within only one month so that people could see it before Christmas.
There were four performances of The Tempest: 24th, 26th, 27th November
and 3rd December, they all were staged at the theatre Na Prádle in Malá Strana.
The actors-amateurs should be praised not
only for the fact that they had such a short time to practice and that the play
is very long, but also because they turned out to be some truly talented young
people. There is no doubt that it has to be difficult to pretend to be
constantly drunk during the play or to jump up and down like a monkey all the
time or even to look decades older that one actually is. The set was laid out
in a strictly Elizabethan way using very little props, which helped to draw the
spectator’s attention to the beauty of innocent Miranda and talented
bare-chested Ferdinand.
The keen spectators could study a short
glossary which they received together with the programme as a freebie. The even
keener ones, who read the programme till the very end, might have wondered
about the special thanks dedicated to the Czech-Japanese Association. As the
play proceeded a little bit, the strange yet humorous choice of an Asian
wardrobe was striking. The absurdity of that was supported by the Italian names
Shakespeare gave to the characters. In order to make the play unusual, John
Martlew took some of his imagination from the time he has spent in Japan and
used it here. Apparently, the costume designers have chosen the kimonos quite
well as they worked well with the performance of the gifted students which
surpassed the expectations of many spectators.
-
Magdalena
Schlindenbuchová
